I... forgot to take photos for the previous book cover while I was working on it... so uh... I'll do it with this one!

This one is very close to my heart since this is going to be my first novel! Eeeeeeee (well this is my second novel. My first novel's manuscript I've put it in a cabinet.)

Currently it's with a copy-editor - so what can I do? Knuckle down and draw the book cover!

I thought of hiring someone else to do it... but I wanted to have a go at doing it myself.

I actually had an idea for the book cover at the start of writing the book and even drew a mock cover.

First try at my novel! The concept was to make it look like a diary.

It wasn't bad - but I didn't think it represented what the story really was like.

So back to the drawing board and voila!

Yuuuuup - thing of beauty, this.

How do I come up with ideas? I look at all the book covers.

I look at book covers (thank you pinterest!) and save everything that jumps out at me.

After I mass about 30-50 images, I look at them and try to think what drew me to them.

The common points were:

* Colors - Cool colors* Small pictures that represent the book* Plants... (I had saved a lot of wedding invitations... I think I just love those watercolor foliage)

So - What else did I really want to put here?* I wanted to put a potion in there with plants coming out of it. (That had to be my centre piece)

Now all these swirled in my head for about a week.

Then I sit down to draw that beauty up there.

Now - next step! Outlines!

A little better...

I don't usually have separate layers for every item... but as it still is in experimental stage, I've kept everything separate. At this point - I am happy with the items in the book cover. I'm not really happy with the sheep... Items at the back... I'm going to think on it a little more before committing to a a thicker outline.

Now - I should really get a template for my book cover since I more or less know how many pages my book would be... but to get a template... I have to write a blurb... description and bleeeeeeeuuugh. I'll just make the front and back first! Huehuehuehuehue. No wonder authors I work with are like "I"LL GIVE YOU THE TEMPLATE LATER - SOD OFF" whenever I ask them for it.

Ugh that sheep keeps annoying me. What is it? Is it the angle? The size? Let me play with that...